Sanchez Threw Game Plan Out The Window Against Kampmann

Diego Sanchez gave the fans a war at UFC on Versus 3.

Some agree and others don’t that Diego Sanchez beat Martin Kampmann at “UFC on Versus 3,” but no one can deny the heart Sanchez displayed in his performance.

“I showed them once again that I’ve got a lot of heart and that I’m going to drop my balls in there. I’m going to give the fans what they want to see,” said Sanchez following the fight.

“That’s the bottom line. That was my 20th fight here in the UFC Octagon and what a way to showcase my 20th fight than with a good war? And you know what, I got the ‘W’ and that’s what matters.”

Sanchez is including his wins on “The Ultimate Fighter 1.” He was the debut season’s middleweight winner. His win sometimes gets overshadowed, if not forgotten, by Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar’s epic war on the same card.

Sanchez’ game plan heading into Thursday’s match up was to take Kampmann down, but he saw little success with the strategy and decided to turn the fight into a brawl.

“What was going through my head the whole fight was, ‘it’s going to land. It’s going to land.’ I was planning on landing that right hook and dropping him. You know what I mean? I was just so, ‘it’s going to land. It’s going to land. Keep throwing it.’

“It landed a couple of times. He didn’t drop,” said Sanchez. “When it all comes down to it, I kind of threw the game plan out the window and made it a street fight. That’s what I did, honestly.”

Sanchez had a cut under his right eye and a large laceration under his left. He did not attend the post-fight press conference. Prior to leaving for the hospital to get stitched up, Sanchez commented, “I’m feeling the pure ecstasy of having a war.”